What's Happening At The Panama Trump Hotel? The Trump Organization Is In Trouble

Of all the ways President Donald Trump's name is appearing in headlines this week, perhaps the most surprising is what's happening at the Trump Hotel in Panama. The latest development of a standoff between the Trump Organization and the hotel's majority owner came on Monday, March 5. A team of a dozen Panamanian police, fully equipped with bullet proof vests, entered the Trump International Hotel and kicked out the organization's staff, according to ABC.

Monday's win for Fintiklis represents the culmination of a legal battle that has been underway for a while now. With 70 stories, the hotel contains 369 rooms, 202 of which Fintiklis bought in 2017. He reportedly wrote in a letter to the hotel's other partial owners in early 2018 that the units were hemorrhaging financially.

One of the hotel's partial owners, Jeffrey Rabiea, told the Post that the hotel's popularity was plummeting among consumers. "Nobody wants to go there," he said. "If you've got a Marriott and a Hyatt and a Trump, you're not going to Trump."

The tension between Fintiklis and the Trump Organization escalated on Thursday, Feb. 24 when Fintiklisarrived at the hotel in person, demanding that the Trump staff leave. When they refused to do so, what resulted was a period of power shut-offs, shouting matches and brush-ups with local police, according to the Post.Monday's reported decision by the legal authority may put an end to the feud.

The Trump Organization has a contract through 2031 to manage the hotel, which opened in 2011, but doesn't own the building itself.

The Trump Organization is currently headed by Eric and Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest sons, while the senior Trump is in the White House. The Panamanian hotel is the only of the Trump Organization's properties in Latin America. Per the Post, Trump reported earning over $800,000 off its management of the hotel in the 15 months prior to his latest financial disclosure.

The Trump Organization in a statement shared with ABC called the maneuver by Fintiklis a "flagrant violation" of their agreements. "Rather than abide by the clear terms of the agreement he had signed," read the statement, "Mr. Fintiklis had been conspiring with others to remove Trump Hotels as manager and fire most, if not all, of its loyal and dedicated employees."

As the Post points out, this isn't the first time the Trump name has been removed from buildings since the president took office. The same happened with Trump hotels in Toronto and Manhattan back in 2017.